Fantasy Football Debate: Stefon Diggs vs. CeeDee Lamb

Wide receivers Stefon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb are two favorite anchor receivers available to managers with later positions in fantasy drafts, according to ADP. In this debate, 4for4's Dave Stewart explains why he prefers Diggs while Brandon Niles argues the Lamb side.

Read other player-specific analysis from the 4for4 staff: Player Profiles | WR Rankings

The Case for Stefon Diggs

Dave: The debate between CeeDee Lamb and Stefon Diggs features two of the top wide receivers in 2023. Both are being drafted high according to 4for4's Multi-site ADP. Diggs is off the board first as WR5 (9th overall) and Lamb follows closely behind at WR7 (13th overall).

Both players turned in top-six performances in 2022 in half-PPR scoring. Diggs finished as the WR4 while Lamb was the WR6. High expectations surround each player heading into the upcoming season. While this makes both exciting options in your fantasy league, Diggs stands above. Allow me to tell explain.

For Lamb, things will be different in Dallas this season. The team has moved on from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and replaced him with Brain Schottenheimer. Head coach Mike McCarthy plans to serve as the play caller for the Cowboys' offense.

Under Moore, who took the role of offensive coordinator beginning in 2019, the Cowboys ranked in the top six in points per game (PPG) in three of his four seasons. They led the NFL in this category in 2021. McCarthy is on record lamenting that Moore wanted to score too much. McCarthy has expressed a desire to run the ball more in order to rest his defense. This cannot be good news for the passing volume in Dallas, who already ranked 27th in pass % according to 4for4's NFL Team Stat Explorer.

Dallas has also brought in Brandin Cooks and they are already talking about his speed. Murmurs out of Dallas suggest he will be the primary deep threat in the offense. This also makes me nervous for Lamb considering he was tied for eighth in the NFL in deep targets last season.

Diggs found himself in a tie for 10th in deep targets last season and Buffalo has not brought in significant competition at the wide receiver position. The Bills ranked seventh in pass % last season and do not appear to be changing the focus of their offense in any way. Which, for Diggs, is positive news. Since he joined the team in 2020, Buffalo has ranked third in points per game each season. Diggs has yet to see fewer than 154 targets in a season since donning the Bills uniform. He has not caught fewer than 103 passes nor has he gained fewer than 1,225 yards. Most significantly, he has 29 touchdowns in three years in Buffalo.

A major factor in Diggs’ scoring proficiency is that he recorded 22 red zone targets in 2022, according to Player Profiler. Only Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, and DK Metcalf had more. Factor in that Diggs is playing with one of the most prolific passers in the NFL in Josh Allen—567 pass attempts last season. He would have had more if their Week 17 matchup had not been canceled due to the tragic circumstances surrounding Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest.

As the key cog in a high passing volume and high-scoring offense, Diggs is too good of an option to pass up. He has only missed one game since arriving in Buffalo, so his availability is top notch. Do yourself a favor and take Diggs over Lamb if both are on the board in your fantasy draft.

The Case for CeeDee Lamb

Brandon: Sometimes these debates are super easy for me (Walker over Dobbins). This is not one of those times. I love Stefon Diggs. His fifth-rounder to All-Pro underdog story and his incredible rapport with one of the most explosive young quarterbacks in football makes it hard to discount selecting him to anchor your fantasy wide receiver corps. As such, I’m going to have fewer negative things to say about Diggs, and more positive things to say about CeeDee Lamb.

Lamb was really good last season. He was the WR6 in half-PPR fantasy points and he was even better when you only count games Dak Prescott started. From the time Prescott returned from injury (Week 7), he was the WR4, within two points of Tyreek Hill. It’s easy to forget how good he was since he was the WR13 while Prescott was out. Even still, Lamb and backup quarterback Cooper Rush developed their own rapport—9.8 targets per game with Rush starting behind center.

Entering his fourth season, Lamb is coming off two consecutive Pro Bowls and a career year. He caught 107 balls for 1,359 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season sans Amari Cooper. As the most trusted target in this offense, Lamb is expected to continue his ascension into 2023, and he’s still just 24 years old.

The arrival of Brandin Cooks might take some targets away from Lamb, but the more likely scenario is Lamb feasting on coverage that now has to focus on more than one player in the passing game. While the swap in offensive coordinators from Kellen Moore to the more conservative Brian Schottenheimer may result in fewer overall passing numbers in Dallas, the efficiency shouldn’t hurt Lamb. Per Pro Football Reference, despite ranking in the lower half of the league in passing attempts and yards in all three seasons in Seattle, his offenses finished fifth, fourth, and third in passing touchdowns. While much of that can be attributed to Russell Wilson’s ridiculous efficiency, there’s something to be said for a strong running attack setting up efficient plays in the passing game.

Lamb has been targeted in the red zone, so the touchdown numbers should favor him, especially with Dalton Schultz now in Houston. Per Sports Info Solutions, last season, Lamb caught five touchdowns in the red zone and was sixth among wide receivers in receiving yardage in that part of the field. Case in point:

CeeDee Lamb 👀 pic.twitter.com/Eo5oq55WMq

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 10, 2023

Dak Prescott will keep looking to his star receiver, and Lamb should easily be on his way to his third consecutive Pro Bowl.

While Lamb has continued to ascend each year in the league, Diggs is entering his age 30 season (30 in November) and the news coming out of camp has been marred with rumors of a potential holdout and general dissatisfaction, as well as training camp fighting with teammates. These don’t seem like anything more than typical 24-hour news cycle rubbish, but it’s still not the kind of narrative you want surrounding your first-round pick.

If I have to pick between the two, give me Lamb every day of the week, but if you’re drafting toward the back end of a snake draft, you may not have to choose! With Diggs going at the 1.09 slot and Lamb at the 2.01, according to our powerful Multi-Site ADP tool, in some drafts, you may be able to snag both. If you have the 11th or 12th pick, I strongly suggested grabbing both. Then you can dominate your league with two of the top players at their respective positions. But if you have to pick one, give me the ascending Lamb every time.